Earth could be sole host of intelligent life forms

Earth may be “the only place” in the universe with life intelligent enough for civilisation, Prof Brian Cox has said.

When asked on BBC One’s Sunday Morning about comments from André Carson, a US congressman, that UFOS are “a potential national security threat”, Prof Cox said it was “one of the great mysteries” if intelligent alien life had found its way to Earth.

He said: “It took the best part of four billion years to go from the origin of life on Earth to a civilisation.

“That’s a third of the age of the universe, and that is a long time, so ... microbes may be common, but things like us may be extremely rare.”